Authors note: I base most of my Charmed stories on these characters. The same children etc. Well, I have so far. So read, review and enjoy.
"Andy, Charli, don't run in the house." Their mother called down from the attic. "I can hear you pattering around."
"Yes mum." They replied, stopping instantly. 7 year old Andy looked at his 5 year old sister Charli. They both smiled and ran up the stairs towards their mother, in the attic. Andy opened the door slightly and peered in. As usual, Prue was sitting in her favourite chair, looking through a huge book. As she heard them she slammed it shut instantly. "Mum?"
Prue looked up as the tentative voice broke into her thoughts. She smiled as her eldest and youngest sidled into the room. Gesturing that they come over, the two children rushed over and slid into her lap. Charli with her back to the arm of the chair and her legs on Prue's lap and Andy squeezed in next to her on the opposite side.
"What are you reading?" Charli asked. "Is it a story?"
"No honey." She answered, smiling wistfully. "It's my job."
At that Andy smiled and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Prue. She opened it slowly, Andy and Charli watching intently. As she finally opened it and saw the drawing on the paper she looked at Andy, obviously alarmed.
"Mummy, I want to be a policeman." Prue's eyes filled with tears, Andy looked stricken and Charli's eyes filled with tears too. "What is it mum? Did I do something wrong?"
Shaking her head at him, and hugging Charli tightly she assured them that nothing was wrong. But Andy was still a little upset. And that's when Charli pointed at a small flickering flame that was beginning in the corner of the room.
"Oh, Andy." Prue exclaimed, quickly getting up and dousing the small flame with a bucket of water, near the door of the attic. "Not in front of Charli."
Andy nodded his head and Prue hugged the two children.
*knock, knock*
Prue lifted her head and sighed. "That's probably your father Charli."
Charli smiled and raced put of the attic and down the stairs to open the door for him. Prue hugged Andy again for good measure and started to descend the stairs to greet Will, Charli's dad. With Andy following her she climbed down the stairs just in time to hear Charli excitedly tell her father about the flame in the attic. His head snapped up and stared at Prue. She stopped short and Andy ran into her.
"William." She started, resuming her walk down the stairs. Andy started after her and hid behind her when she stopped. Andy was afraid of Will and had always been.
"Prudence." He replied. Charli swivelled in her father's arms, feeling the tension, knowing she had started something. He put her down and motioned for her and Andy to go and play. "I need to speak to your mother."
Andy looked at his mother and she nodded. He grabbed Charli's hand and dragged her into the parlour of the Manor. He had lived here his entire life, even though his aunts Phoebe and Piper had moved out years ago. He began to play with Charli but kept his ears open for the conversation his mother and Charli's father were having.
"Prue, how could you let it happen?" Will's heavy voice carried far. "You promised me that you would never expose our child to witchcraft or magic."
Charli's sensitive hearing picked up on the conversation and she put down the Barbie she was holding and stood next to Andy, listening.
"I never meant..." She started. She shuffled around the kitchen making herself a drink. "Andy just can't control his powers yet. He's only young and..."
"They are the most dangerous powers I have ever seen Prue." Charli suddenly flinched, her eyes filled with fear and loathing. Andy looked at her and grasped her around her shoulders. "Prue, he can start fires with his mind. He could kill someone."
Charli shivered with fear in Andy's arms while Prue and Will kept talking.
"Will, I have it under control. I bound her powers at birth; she will never have them or know about them. The only way she can get them back is by my unbinding them or my death. There is no other way." Prue sounded defeated. She remembered it being like this when she finally told him.
They had been dating for two years and had finally gotten engaged. She decided it was time to tell him the family secret.
He had gone totally ballistic, ranting and raving. Thinking that love would conquer all she showed him her powers and then proceeded to tell him that any children they had would be girls and witches too. He stormed out and left her.
But then she found out she was pregnant with Charli. She told him and he took legal action as soon as she was born. But luckily for Prue she got custody of the baby, but only till 3, then will got her on weekends. Since he spoilt the 5 year old, Charli loved her father.
But the other problem was that Will had forbidden his daughter to use magic. He didn't want her to have anything to do with the supernatural. So Prue bound her daughter's powers as soon as she was born. She was sorry to do it. But then she knew that she had too. It was hard enough to control a two year old with pyrokenisis. Let alone adding a newborn with unknown magical powers. So she bound her daughters powers, much to both her sister's disbelief and disproval.
So, Prue lived at the Manor as a single mum, with Andy and Charli. Will came each weekend and took Charli, then brought her back each Monday. Charli never knew about her powers, about magic and Prue tried to keep Andy's powers a secret too but he could hardly use them. He was only 7 and when he got upset or angry they just kinda worked. And things just kinda got burnt.
Shaking her head to get rid of the bad memories of all her ruined relationships, she resumed making the drink for herself. In the next room Charli started to cry. Andy looked at her, wondering what was going on. Prue and Will started to talk again.
"Prue, I just want to keep her safe. Having one of the Charmed ones for a mother cannot be good for keeping her alive." He started again, stopping her with a grasp at her wrist. "Demons and such won't want to kill her if she has no powers."
She sighed and nodded, shaking his hand off. In the next room Charli sighed and grasped onto Andy tighter.
"What's wrong?" He whispered to her.
"I dunno." The slight 5 year old replied. "I feel strange. All these feelings keep..."
She stopped as her parents stepped out of the kitchen. Prue saw them and plastered a fake smile on her face as Will swept Charli up in his arms and grabbed the bag next to the door containing all her things she needed.
"You be back on Monday?" She asked, standing on the top step. Andy poked his head out from behind her and smiled at Charli. Charli grimaced at the pain that ripped through her. She stared at her mother and saw the exact same pain reflected on her face.
"Mummy?" Charli cried out as Will put her in the car. "Mummy."
Prue tried so hard to restrain herself from running over to her, picking her up and hugging her. She felt Andy bristle behind her and she watched as the left headlight on Will's brand new car bubbled and burnt.
"Andy." His mother's sharp voice snapped Andy out of it and he immediately stopped focussing on the car. "That was not a smart thing to do, and you know it."
"Sorry Mum." He answered. Luckily for them Will didn't notice and drove off, with Charli still calling out to Prue and Andy.
"Mum, why does she have to go all the time?" Andy asked, looking up at her with his long lashes. Prue smiled and walked into the house, Andy following behind. "Mum?"
Sitting down on the couch, Andy followed suit and sat down on the single lounge opposite her. He sat cross-legged and stared at her.
"Andy, some things are complicated." He nodded, understanding what she meant. "I love you, you know that. I love your sister. But things go beyond love."
Andy watched silently as his mother wiped her eyes and looked at him again. "Love is potent Andy, I should know."
"Like my dad?" He asked, in a quiet voice. Prue looked at him sharply, opening her arms and he went over and sat on her lap, his head to her heart, listening.
"Andy, you know why you are so special?" She asked. Not waiting for an answer she went on. "Not only because you possess a power that no Halliwell or any of our family has ever possessed but because you are a boy."
She smiled at him and kept going.
"Andy, no boy has been born into our family for centuries. And none born with powers. You are a miracle of life my darling. And I love you for it." She said, stroking his head. They sat there for a few minutes, Andy listening to her heart beat and Prue thinking of Andy's father. Andy Trudeau.
"Andy, do you want to know about your father?" She asked him. He sat up quickly and looked at her. He smiled.
"Of course." He answered, laying back down to listen to her heartbeat. "I hear you and aunt Phoebe and aunt Piper talking about him all the time in hushed tones and whispers. As if there is a problem with him or something."
She shook her head slightly, trying to get rid of the horrible feeling washing over her. A single tear slid down her face as she started to tell little Andy of his father.
"Andy, your father was a great man..." She continued, telling him of how she met him, their eternal friendship, high school, college and when she found out she was a witch, then how he found out she was a witch. And how he loved her so much, he gave his life for her. She told him of everything she could remember, her love for him and she even got out some photo albums and showed him pictures of him.
"I loved him so much it hurt Andy." She said, another tear slid down her cheek. "He was my soul mate, I will never find anyone like him. That's why Charli's dad left."
"Why?" He asked, a little confused. "What do you mean?"
"One of the reasons was because he knew I could never love him as I did Andy. But I still loved Will, in my own way." She smiled at him as the phone rang and she got up to get it.
"Hello, Prue Halliwell." She said into the reciever.
"Hello, Piper Wyatt speaking." The laughing voice said at the other end of the line. "I was just ringing to make sure you were ready to baby-sit the kids."
Prue nodded, then smiled. "Yeah, is Phoebe there with you?"
"Yep, she arrived a few minutes ago, with her three. We were just on our way over to drop to drop them off now." She answered, swapping the phone to the other hand. "Are you totally okay with the fact that Phoebe, Cole, Leo and I are going on our second honeymoons?"
"I'm fine Piper, you guys have a great time okay." Prue answered, looking over to where Andy was playing with his toys. "See you when you get here."
She hung up and went over and stood in the doorway, looking at Andy. The way he moved, his eyes, his mouth, it was all Andy, and it choked her every time she looked at him. She stood there, in the doorway for a few more minutes, just watching him. His little lithe body weaving in and out of the furniture, playing aeroplanes.
After a few minutes he finally noticed she was there. Looking up at her he ran over and hugged her.
*knock, knock*
"Hey Andy, it's probably your cousins, why don't you go and answer it?" She said. He got up and ran to the door. She smiled, and started picking up his toys and putting them away. She heard the voices of her two sisters and her brother-in-laws come into the entrance of the Manor, throwing the toys into Andy and Charli's huge toy box she walked into the entrance to greet them all.
"Cole, Leo, how good to see you two again." She leant over and kissed them both on the cheek and she hugged her two sisters. Feeling a tug on her skirt she looked down into the eyes of her youngest nieces eyes. Leaning down to pick her up she hugged her tightly. "Hey there Kirsten, you ready to stay the night?"
"Yeah aunty Prue." She answered. "I'm gonna sleep in Charli's room with Jasmin and Melinda aren't I?"
Prue smiled and nodded at the small child. She put her down and gestured for Andy to help the 4 girls with their stuff. He groaned and smiled, he loved his cousins. A lot.
"So, Piper, Phoebe." Prue straightened and looked at her youngest sister, linked arms with the ex-demon, Cole. They had been, married for about 8 years, a few months before their eldest, Patricia, Patti for short, was born. 2 years later came Jasmin and finally Kirsten, the baby of the family. That reminded her.
"Piper, I nearly forgot." She said rushing out of the room, only to come back in, holding a small parcel, wrapped rather wildly, and placed it in Piper's hands. "It's for the baby. Charli and Andy wrapped it."
She eyed Piper's rather large and growing belly. She placed her hands on her belly and Phoebe stepped closer placing her hands on her swelling stomach, all three Charmed Ones closed their eyes.
Swirling, around and around, pink viscous liquid, breathing in, out, in, out, pain, scared. Cold, fear. Warmth, love, white liquid sliding peacefully down. Breath in now, out, in, out.
All three shuddered at the same time.
"Honey, what's wrong?" Leo grabbed Piper and hugged her. "Are you okay Piper?"
"Phoebe..." Cole turned her around to face him. "What did you see? All of you see?"
"I think your new little daughter will have premonitions too Leo." Phoebe said, looking at him directly. Cole and Leo both smiled, and they all stood there with dumb smiles pasted on their faces.
"Mum?" A tentative voice broke into the thoughts of the three adults. At the same time they all turned and looked at Melinda.
"Hey honey." Piper said to her, bending down slowly and kissing her 6 year old on the cheek. "We're going to go now, so have fun with the girls and Andy."
Phoebe called her three down and kissed them all goodnight. "Good-bye my little darlings, see you tomorrow."
The other three kids bounded down the stairs and stood in the front doorway, waving at their parents. The Turners and Wyatts got into their respective cars and drove off, leaving the five children with Prue.
All the children turned at the same time and looked at Prue. She grinned, guiding them up the stairs without a word.
As they got to the attic door, Melinda turned and peered at Prue through her thick lashes. Prue nodded and Melinda tkd the door open with her eyes. Smiling, Prue guided the others in the room.
They all sat down, cross-legged on the floor, facing Prue, who was sitting in her favourite chair again, leafing through the 'Book of Shadows'. She looked up into the expectant group of children and grinned.
"Okay, who's up for some magic practicing?" She asked. All of the kids jumped up said they wanted to. Every time the children came to the Manor, Prue practiced their powers with them, making them stronger and more powerful. She didn't want them to be killed by a rogue demon or warlock. So she taught them how to use their powers and they practiced up in the attic, away from prying eyes of the neighbours and others.
"Me first, me first." Yelled Melinda, standing up. "I'm the third oldest."
"Okay, okay." Prue said, getting up. "How are you going so far?"
"I can do this..." She replied. She stood in front of a large vase and raised her hands, the vase raising at the same time. She swivelled her head and looked at Prue and the vase slipped, the other kids gasped and Patti raised her hands and froze it as Prue went to tk it off the ground. "Oh, I'm sorry."
Melinda's bottom lip started to tremble and Prue rushed over to her, grabbing the frozen vase on the way. Hugging her, she thanked Patti for saving the vase and waited for Melinda to stop crying so she could tell her that it wasn't her fault. The other kids started to get restless so she told them that they could practice too, while they were there.
"Use the box of things please." She said, staring at them all. "And Andy, try not to burn anything but where I have indicated. Over there in the corner."
To protect the Manor, Prue had constructed a spot for Andy to practice his pyrokenesis (pk), a corner covered in wet towels and buckets of water. It worked, but just in case, she had a fire blanket, and three fire extinguishers nearby. Also she had a box of balls, soft toys and things for the kids to use and had cleared the room of anything breakable. A small movement in her lap made her look down into Melinda's tear streaked face. "It's okay honey. You just need to concentrate more."
Melinda smiled and jumped off her lap, over to the box. Prue smiled and walked back over to her chair. Sitting down she watched the children.
Patti was going the best, obviously, as she had more experience. She had her aunt Piper's power of freezing time and her other aunt Prue's power of Astral projection.
Jasmin had a completely new power to add to the Halliwell family. Fireballs. Also, as her father was an ex-demon, she also had the power to shimmer. Both were complicated and she still couldn't control them. The poor six year old was always upset as the fireballs sometimes just went off. She had to stay in the corner with Andy most of the time.
Kirsten was a smart little four year old with the power of conjuring energy balls. They were sort of like her father's energy balls, yet different. She also had the power of deflection, a cool power to have to protect herself.
Melinda was Piper and Leo's first and only child at the moment. Another on the way, with only premonitions so far. Melinda possessed telekinesis and orbing. Like her father.
Andy was a miracle. He had a completely unknown power to the Warren line. No witch had ever possessed it. It was very rare, powerful and hard to control. Especially for a seven year old.
Prue's daughter Charli was an unruly child at five years old. Unknown to her was the world of magic. Her mother and reluctantly, her relatives kept it from her.
"Ahh, Jasmin." A screech broke Prue's concentration and her head snapped to see a fireball heading towards Kirsten. Her hands flew up instinctively and stopped it in midair, plunging it into a bucket of water nearby. Slowly she turned around and glared at the little girl.
"What was that?" She asked, trying to mask the anger in her voice. Everyone in the room stopped moving and watched the two. "What was that Jasmin?"
"An accident?" She squeaked out, taking a step back from her fuming aunt. "I didn't mean to."
"Okay, okay." She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and counted to ten. "I'm fine, you are all fine. I need to got to bed."
"Mum, are you okay?" Andy asked, stepping up to her as she collapsed onto her fave chair. "Mum?"
"Keep playing kids." She muttered, exhaling a huge breath. She got up and told the kids she'd be back in a minute. "Patti, you freeze them if they need it."
Her eyes glinted as the little girl smiled wickedly. "I mean if they are going to kill each other or break something. You know you can't freeze them if they are witches. Which they are..."
Her voice trickled down the stairs as she went down them. A crash indicated one of the remaining chairs falling over and she winched.
"Melinda." The other four yelled. Prue smiled as she got down the last step. As she turned the corner to the kitchen she froze. Feeling a presence behind her she turned.
"Prudence Halliwell. The oldest Charmed One." He said. The he being a man, looking a lot like Cole. "I'm Daniel. Daniel Turner. Actually, you may know me better like this.."
His voice trailed off as he morphed into a demon. He looked a lot like Balthazar, but a dark green, almost black, he was shorter, uglier with two little blue horns protruding from his forehead. "My name is Kal. The brother of Balthazar."
"Oh, really, I would never have noticed." Prue replied, hoping the children would keep quiet, not drawn attention to them selves. "So, you are the little brother of the almighty, and yet now human, Balthazar."
Smiling, Prue taunted him. Losing control, Kal launched a fireball at her, she calmly tked it back to him. Getting angry, he ran at her trowing numerous fireballs at her. Prue ducked most and tked a few back. At the last minute she jumped out of the way, a fireball clipping her shoulder.
Snarling, Prue got up, grasping her left shoulder with her right hand. "That was uncalled for."
Lifting her right hand she tked him into the nearest wall, which unfortunetly had the old grandfather clock in front of it. Landing hard and smashing the clock to pieces, Kal got up slowly, growling.
"Look what you made me do you stupid demon." Prue yelled at him, waving her arm again. He flew across the room again, hit the wall above the stairs, and fell down the rest of them. "Now leave my house."
"Not till I got what I came for." He replied, shimmering out. Prue blinked, realising what he meant and she ran up the stairs as quickly as she could.
Hearing screams in the attic, Prue ran faster, tears filling her eyes. "Andy."
She choked out his name just as she got to the door and tked it opened. The four girls were huddled in a corner, all crying. No Andy.
"Where's Andy?" She asked, the tears running down her cheeks. She held her breath. "Where is he?"
"The scary man took him." Kirsten replied, running over to her. Prue hugged her and the other three ran over too.
"We need to find Andy." Prue resolved. Getting up from the floor where she had been crouching and went to the Book of Shadows. Wiping their tears away, the four girls followed her. They all stood around the book as Prue tked the pages so she could see them all.
"There." Melinda pointed out. Prue stopped instantly and read out the page.
"Kal. Balthazor's younger brother. He was conceived of the same mother but a demonic father. He possesses the powers of shimmering, fireballs and morphing." Looking down the page she found the vanquishing spell and memorised it. "Girls, you ever scryed for someone?"
